Senegalese writing duo Mame Bougouma Diene and Woppa Diallo have won the Caine prize for African writing with a story described by the judges as “tender and poetic”. This marks the first time a pair has won the award since it began in 2000, as well as the first time the prize has chosen a winner from Senegal.
Lawyer and activist Diallo’s experiences of gender-based violence in Senegal were the inspiration for A Soul of Small Places, which was first published by Tordotcom in 2022. French-Senegalese American humanitarian and short story writer Diene worked with her to create a fictional Woppa Diallo, who narrates her story against a backdrop of African cosmology in which spirits and humans coexist.
